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Inventory needed to fulfill large retail orders!

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My name is Shontel & I make the best sweet potato pie you've never had! I'm told that every day. I work 7 days a week on my business with single-minded focus & intention & purpose, and my pies are in small local groceries, cafés, and on the menu of some swanky restaurants. I work non-stop with one goal--to build my brand to take it national. We now have opportunities with several regional grocery stores--I'm talking big leagues. 

I recently met the president and category manager of an amazing regional brand that has a national parent company. They love the pies and want to place them in their stores in my local market--they want to start small. Even so, to get them the Thanksgiving pies they are seeking, I won't be able to work alone as I have been. I will need to hire at least one helper NOW, and I will need to purchase all of the inventory needed to start making the pies and freezing them now with no payment until the purchase orders start coming in late October. I also need several more freezers for storage. And did I mention that I need a new 40-qt mixer? Yup. We are talking many thousands of dollars that I, as a small business, simply do not have. I am maxed out and just holding it together working toward this next level. Bills are piling up, and I just keep rising and grinding, Damon John, because I know that I have a very special product. I hear it at every farmers or makers market where we set up with samples and let people try it before they buy it. I hear it from every chef I leave samples with, every restaurant owner, every café owner, every individual. We sold 90 sweet potato pies on Mother's Day in our downtown on the strength of a sample, so this pie sells in all seasons wherever there is foot traffic and samples. And it's not a cheap pie--we use the very best ingredients and it retails between $27 and $33 per pie. We use organic sweet potatoes, yummy butter from a local creamery, I hand-shape each all-butter crust, and we get our eggs from local farms right up the road. We sold $2k/week outside of a regional grocery for 4 months until property management sent us packing despite having owner permission to be there. ALL OF THIS plus $77k in first year sales is proof of concept! I keep saying we because, oui, there's a little French mouse in my pocket. I'm doing this alone in terms of the labor and baking and mixing and driving and shaping crusts and marketing and dishwashing and sales, but I have a community of friends and supporters who keep telling me to not give up, that the constant grinding and 80+ hour work weeks and mountain of debt and sacrifice of time with those I love will pay off when this pie hits the shelves of every national brand worthy of mention. So I rise. And I grind.

I listen to How I Built this with Guy Raz on National Public Radio and I am at the threshold that every entrepreneur finds themselves: I have to raise capital to take my brand to the next level. It's that simple. I'm in very good company with Chicken Salad Chick (Stacy Brown has an AMAZING story), Stonyfield Farms (this one had me in actual tears--amazing story), Whole Foods, Starbucks, and so many others. I'm at a crossroads and, as difficult as it is for me to ask for help, hearing the struggles and challenges of these very successful brands and entrepreneurs has given me the courage to ask for what I need. I first need inventory and enough money to be able to hire someone to help me to get through the busy holiday season that's coming up. I will next need enough money to get into my own kitchen space. (We can talk about that after Christmas!) I currently share the kitchen of a restaurant, but I don't have enough space or storage. I can get by with the kitchen time if I pack in all my baking into 3 full days and 2 half-days, but eventually I'd like to create a beautiful commissary kitchen of my own where I create my amazing brand on one side and rent the other side by the hour to other entrepreneurs who need a clean, fully equipped, and affordable space to create. I believe you can help me. You've just gotta try this pie--it's something special. Thank you so much for your time! Someday I will tell you the rest of my story because we are building something major here and you're gonna want to know all about it. Cheers. Peace & continued blessings to you.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $250
    • 1 yr
  • Lisbeth Theisen
    • $150
    • 1 yr
  • Laura Solomon
    • $100
    • 1 yr
  • Bernard Jones
    • $500 (Offline)
    • 1 yr
  • Uncle Fred Babb
    • $100 (Offline)
    • 1 yr
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Organizer

Shontel Babb
Organizer
Greenville, SC

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